Oliver Francis Gallery in Dallas is closing — sort of

by Sarah Blaskovich

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The owner of the gallery is giving "total freedom" to another project for nearly a month.

Oliver Francis Gallery

DALLAS — Call it a summer vacation. Owner of Oliver Francis Gallery Kevin Rubén Jacobs shut the gallery doors on July 15 and will keep them closed until August 10.

During that time, Jacobs wants you to think of the Peak Street space as Dick Higgins Gallery, a pop-up art collective without a real home.

"They are taking over my gallery in full," said Jacobs, who also works full-time at the Goss-Michael Foundation as exhibitions manager. "I'm taking down my neon sign, and they're going to basically do whatever. ... It's their gallery now." It helps that the curators behind Dick Higgins Gallery are Jacobs' friends. He's not charging them rent while they exhibit Dick Higgins at Dick Higgins.

We tried to contact Higgins, and then we learned why he wouldn't be available: "Named after the Fluxus artist who passed away in 1998 at a Fluxus performance, Dick Higgins is a collaborative. Also known for coining the term intermedia, Dick Higgins' work is interdisciplinary. He's a curator, an artist, and an art gallery," said Michael Mazurek via email. The exhibit was conceived in 2011, and Mazurek writes that this summer may be the only showing of the exhibition.

Mazurek and the Dick Higgins Gallery exhibited at OFG in early 2012, and they have -- as Mazurek says -- "plans for another insertion in the fall" at another Dallas gallery.

When Jacobs reclaims control of his gallery, they will open with Real Things - Explorations in Three Dimensions by Rachel de Joode in mid-August.